Editing Politics of Palau (section)

== History ==
Palau adopted a [[Constitution of Palau|constitution]] on January 1, 1981.<ref>''Patterson, Carolyn Bennett, et al. "At the Birth of Nations: In the Far Pacific." National Geographic Magazine, October 1986 page 493. National Geographic Virtual Library, Accessed 17 May 2018.'' "The westernmost among the emerging nations of the Pacific, the Republic of Palau (or Belau), population more than 15,000, is divided into 16 separate states, each with its own [[List of current state governors in Palau|governor]], lieutenant governor, and legislature.  Most state populations are very small, and one wonders if anyone has time for anything but government, American style and democratic though it may be.
An example is [[Peleliu]], the tragic island where more than 13,000 Americans and Japanese died during [[Battle of Peleliu|less than three months of fighting]], often hand to hand, in the autumn of 1944.  Pat and I went to Peleliu from [[Koror]], the republic's capital, by speedboat, a wave-tossing, rear-slapping 45&nbsp;minutes, and arrived to discover it was election day, with five candidates running for governor.  Although Peleliu claims a population of 2,000 people, only 400 actually live there.  More registered voters live in Koror than on their home island, and 800 send votes from [[Guam]].  The situation is similar in Palau's other states.
A current joke puts a laugh in the truth.  A man walks into a bar in Koror and calls out, "Hey, Governor!"  And half the men in the place stand up.
But that's only the state story.  The national government is headed by President [[Lazarus Salii]], followed by a [[Vice President of Palau|vice president]], a cabinet responsible for five ministries, a [[judiciary of Palau|judiciary]], and a legislature with a 16-member [[House of Delegates of Palau|house]] and a 14-member [[Senate of Palau|senate]].
Then there's the hereditary leadership.  Each village has ten chiefs, ranked in importance.  And, dividing the island group, there are two [[paramount chiefs]].  Never, I thought, have so few been governed by so many."</ref> There were disagreements between the United States and Palau over the constitution.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Shuster |first=Donald R. |date=2009 |title=The Republic of Palau and its Compact, 1995–2009 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25701188 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=325–332 |issn=0022-3344}}</ref>

Palau witnessed several instances of political violence in the 1980s. The republic's first president, [[Haruo Remeliik|Haruo I. Remeliik]], was assassinated in 1985; the Minister of State{{who|date=June 2018}} <!-- possibly [[Roman Tmetuchl]] or John O. Ngiraked -->was found to be complicit in the crime. Palau's third president, [[Lazarus Salii]], committed suicide in August 1988 amid bribery allegations. Salii's personal assistant had been imprisoned several months earlier after being convicted of firing shots into the home of the Speaker of the House of Delegates.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

Palau gained [[independence]] from the [[United Nations]] trusteeship administered by the [[United States]] on 1 October 1994 and entered a [[Compact of Free Association]] with the United States.<ref name=":0" />

The Senate passed legislation making Palau an "offshore" financial center in 1998. Opponents to the legislation voiced fears that the country would become a haven for [[money laundering|money launderers]] and other sorts of criminal activity. In December 1999, a group of major international banks banned U.S. dollar-denominated transactions involving Palau and the other Pacific island states of [[Vanuatu]] and [[Nauru]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Field|first1=Michael|title=World Banks Isolate Three Pacific Countries: Nauru, Palau and Vanuatu Accused of Money Laundering|url=http://archives.pireport.org/archive/1999/december/12-21-up1.htm|access-date=February 1, 2016|work=Pacific Islands Report|agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]|date=December 21, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051740/http://archives.pireport.org/archive/1999/december/12-21-up1.htm|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>